Pre-election magic? Illegal border crossings in US suddenly drop to four-year low

US Customs and Border Patrol’s migrant encounter figures along the border with Mexico have hit a four-year low.

“In July, the Border Patrol recorded 56,408 encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border,” the agency said in a press release.

The CBP said its “operational statistics” for July “show a significant decline in migrant encounters during the first full month after a Presidential Proclamation issued June 4, 2024 by President Biden to temporarily suspend the entry of certain noncitizens across the southern border. US Border Patrol encounters in July were 32% lower than in June 2024 and were the lowest monthly total along the southwest border since September 2020.”

If the figures are to be believed, they are good news for Democrats fearing that the Biden administration’s disastrous handling of the border crisis may cost the party the election in November. Biden effectively sparked the crisis in January 2021 after repealing a series of hardline, Trump-era immigration directives, prompting over 7.3 million illegal aliens to enter the United States. Donald Trump and his allies have dubbed the situation at the border a “disaster” and “invasion” that could “destroy our country.”

The Kamala Harris campaign has gone to great lengths in recent weeks to try to ditch the “border czar” moniker bestowed on her by the media in March 2021, when she was tapped to figure out the “root causes” of the immigration crisis. At the Republican National Convention last month, MAGA Republican Representative Matt Gaetz suggested that “appointing Kamala Harris to oversee the border is like appointing Bernie Madoff to oversee your retirement plan.”

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‘Akhmat’ special forces quash Ukraine’s advance in area of Kursk region: latest updates

◻️ The advance of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region has been stopped in the entire section where the Akhmat special forces operate, Major-General Apty Alaudinov, Akhmat commander and deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry, told journalists.

◻️ North Korea has denounced Ukraine’s aggression in Russia’s Kursk region as an “act of terrorism." "We strongly condemn the armed attack against the Russian territory by the Zelensky puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West as an unforgivable act of aggression and terror," a spokesperson for the North Korean Foreign Ministry was cited by the KCNA news agency as saying.

◻️ More than 1,700 people have been evacuated in the past 24 hours from border areas of the Kursk region, the acting governor's spokeswoman, Irina Tolmacheva, said in a video published on the Kursk region government’s Telegram channel on Saturday.

◻️ During the fighting on the border of the Kursk region, Ukrainian forces have lost more than 3,460 servicemen, 50 tanks, 25 infantry fighting vehicles, 45 armored personnel carriers, 262 armored combat vehicles, 115 vehicles, five anti-aircraft missile systems, and seven multiple rocket launchers, including three HIMARS MLRS.

The Kursk region, which borders Ukraine in western Russia, was attacked by about 1,000 Ukrainian troops and scores of armored vehicles on August 6. Russian forces stopped Ukraine’s Army from advancing deep into Russian territory and continue to repel Ukrainian incursion attempts.

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Russia slams reports of disrupted Ukraine talks as "false"

Commenting on an article in the WP claiming that the attack by Ukrainian forces on the Kursk region disrupted negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry says no one disrupted anything, as there was nothing to disrupt

No direct or indirect negotiations either were or are being conducted between Russia and Ukraine on the security of civilian infrastructure facilities, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The threat to the security of the Zaporozhye and Kursk Nuclear Power Plants is created exclusively by the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the complicity of the United States and other Western countries, she said.

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US-Mexico row gathers steam as Latin American country pivots away from Washington’s grip

A diplomatic row is gaining steam between Mexico and the United States.

Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has accused the US of sponsoring opposition NGOs such as the group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) through USAID programs. Obrador said his Foreign Ministry had sent a diplomatic notice, while he would personally write to US President Joe Biden about it.

The US government has sent nearly $5 million to MCCI since 2018, with private donors including the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, Mexico’s Financial Crimes Unit (UIF) said.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has long courted controversy as a tool for using foreign aid to extend influence and support so-called “color revolutions,” such as in Ukraine in 2004 and 2014.

Reported US attempts to influence the outcome of the elections in Mexico through its NGOs appear to have failed. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum – to be sworn in on October 1 – has vowed to continue the policies of her predecessor.

The current row comes as part of a general pivot away from the US driven by Obrador, also known by his initials AMLO. The leader of the left-wing MORENA political party has repeatedly doubled down on assurances that he will not tolerate Mexico being subservient to the US.

◻️ Last year, Obrador rebuked “irresponsible” calls from some US lawmakers advocating military action against drug cartels. “We are not going to permit any foreign government to intervene in our territory,” he said.

◻️ Mexico’s president refused to grant the Pentagon permission to track a stray Chinese balloon through Mexican airspace using American military aircraft and surveillance drones last year. The US shot down the balloon, claiming it was on a spying mission for Beijing, despite the latter insisting it was a civilian craft conducting scientific research.

◻️ Obrador accused the US Department of Defense of spying, and vowed to restrict military information after Mexico-related intelligence documents were leaked along with dozens of military files last year.

◻️ Obrador conditioned helping Biden with his southern border migrant crisis on lifting sanctions from Cuba and Venezuela – both of which are Mexican trading partners.

◻️ Mexico has sought to slash imports of genetically-modified US corn in favor of boosting local production, sparking a trade dispute.

◻️ Mexico joined other major Latin American countries in pushing back on efforts by the US and EU to diplomatically isolate President Nicolas Maduro after the Venezuelan president was reelected to a third term in office.

◻️ Mexico has refused to be drawn into supporting NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine, and declined to impose economic sanctions on Russia.

◻️ Trade volume between Russia and Mexico increased by 9.8% in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, amounting to $759.99 million.

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💥 Merciless ‘Lancet’: Russian troops destroyed a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier in the border area of the Kursk region

A reconnaissance unit of the Sever battlegroup identified an armored personnel carrier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The target was hit by a ‘Lancet’ loitering munition.

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🇷🇺🇦🇿 Putin arrived in Azerbaijani capital, Baku, on a two-day state visit

The Russian president will hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. The two leaders will discuss the development of Russian-Azerbaijani relations and current international and regional issues.

This is Putin’s eighth visit to Azerbaijan. His last trip was in September 2018.

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🇷🇺🇦🇿 Putin's visit to Azerbaijan began with an informal dinner with President Aliyev's family.

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◻️ Advance of Ukraine’s army near Russia’s Kursk region stopped: check out the latest updates from the area

◻️ ‘There was nothing to disrupt’: Moscow reacts to media speculation about Ukraine talks

◻️ Netizens in fury over Italian TV interviewing Ukrainian militant wearing a cap with Nazi insignia

◻️ US-Mexico diplomatic row is gaining steam: check out the details

◻️ Illegal border crossing in US suddenly drops – why?

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Israeli hacking attack made Hezbollah’s slain commander 'easy target' – report

Israel breached Hezbollah’s internal communications network and tricked assassinated Fuad Shukr into becoming an easy target, the Wall Street Journal claims.

The senior commander of the Lebanon-based group was in his office on the second floor of a Beirut residential building on the day of the strike that killed him. Shukr, a senior military adviser to Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, lived and worked in the same building in the Dahiyeh neighborhood. He got a phone call at 7pm, telling him to head to his apartment on the seventh floor, a Hezbollah official was quoted as saying.

Lebanon is reportedly probing the intelligence failure in conjunction with Iran.

The attack that killed Shukr came just hours before the fatal attack on the Tehran residence of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in July. Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s assassination and have vowed retaliation.

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